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REVIEW: Drifting Dragons




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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 2:19 pm Reply with quote
I was first drawn to this series by the manga, which seems to hold more than a whiff of Miyazaki (the blue uniforms and the cloud backgrounds are strong reminders of Nausicaä, the steam-punk aerobatics, the storm at the end, and Giraud's tale of his father are all reminiscent of Laputa (recall Pazu's story of his own father)).

The anime is a pretty strong adaptation of the manga (and every chapter of the manga includes a recipe). I hope the anime does well --- the manga has a lot of story to tell, there's a lot of room for more adaptation. I was hoping the anime would get to Vannabelle's story, or at least the all-crew-woman feast on board the Quin Zaza.

I'm not much of a judge of animation --- things that look just fine to me seem to draw criticism from others --- so I'm glad to have my impression that Drifting Dragons looks pretty good verified by Theron.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 2:51 pm Reply with quote
The CG models in this one were pretty good but the actual animation was still way too choppy too often. That aside, it was a fairly interesting series but I mostly agree with criticism that it didn't have a strong enough story.
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#894822



Joined: 08 Apr 2019
Posts: 111
PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 3:22 pm Reply with quote
Rewatching it with the English dub. It’s pretty good
CG was pretty good too.

Mika was not as interesting as I thought he would be. At one point, I though Jiro / Giraud was the MC!
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 4:46 pm Reply with quote
Out of curiousity, does this series take a stance on whaling (draking)? Like it's great, or it's awful and shouldn't be done? Or is it more of a 'this is just how things are' not really taking a stance kind of thing?
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
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Joined: 06 Jul 2015
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 5:00 pm Reply with quote
Covnam wrote:
Out of curiousity, does this series take a stance on whaling (draking)? Like it's great, or it's awful and shouldn't be done? Or is it more of a 'this is just how things are' not really taking a stance kind of thing?


Its stance is more or less, "Killing and eating whales/dragons is cool and delicious"
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Key
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 5:15 pm Reply with quote
Covnam wrote:
Out of curiousity, does this series take a stance on whaling (draking)? Like it's great, or it's awful and shouldn't be done? Or is it more of a 'this is just how things are' not really taking a stance kind of thing?

The morality of it is lightly touched on a couple of times but is never a major point of focus, nor does the series ever take a stance on it. Mika comes off as amoral - it's all about eating your prey for him - but most of the rest of the drakers have a respect for dragons akin to the way that Plains Native Americans regarded buffalo: they never kill for fun, use almost everything, and pay their respects in an almost religious sense.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 11:21 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
Covnam wrote:
Out of curiousity, does this series take a stance on whaling (draking)? Like it's great, or it's awful and shouldn't be done? Or is it more of a 'this is just how things are' not really taking a stance kind of thing?

The morality of it is lightly touched on a couple of times but is never a major point of focus, nor does the series ever take a stance on it. Mika comes off as amoral - it's all about eating your prey for him - but most of the rest of the drakers have a respect for dragons akin to the way that Plains Native Americans regarded buffalo: they never kill for fun, use almost everything, and pay their respects in an almost religious sense.


I mean... if they keep hunting dragon and everything is fine, the moral is pretty much "whaling is awesome y'all!". Ultimately paying respect/using all the part is just stuff human do to make our self fell better, the animal certainly don't care. Heck, if a killer murdered someone I was close to and the cop told me the killer used every part of the body in an almost religious way it certainly wouldn't make me feel any better! Laughing
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Scion Drake



Joined: 25 Nov 2017
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 12:18 am Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
Key wrote:
Covnam wrote:
Out of curiousity, does this series take a stance on whaling (draking)? Like it's great, or it's awful and shouldn't be done? Or is it more of a 'this is just how things are' not really taking a stance kind of thing?

The morality of it is lightly touched on a couple of times but is never a major point of focus, nor does the series ever take a stance on it. Mika comes off as amoral - it's all about eating your prey for him - but most of the rest of the drakers have a respect for dragons akin to the way that Plains Native Americans regarded buffalo: they never kill for fun, use almost everything, and pay their respects in an almost religious sense.


I mean... if they keep hunting dragon and everything is fine, the moral is pretty much "whaling is awesome y'all!". Ultimately paying respect/using all the part is just stuff human do to make our self fell better, the animal certainly don't care. Heck, if a killer murdered someone I was close to and the cop told me the killer used every part of the body in an almost religious way it certainly wouldn't make me feel any better! Laughing


You are aware the hunting of an animal is distinctly different from the hunting of a human being right?

That serial killer comparison is nonsense.
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dm
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 2:10 pm Reply with quote
Drifting Dragons doesn't take a moral stance on whaling/draking, yet, beyond the stance of don't be unnecessarily cruel in the way that you kill your prey. The dragons are perfectly capable of fighting back. We also see dragons preying on one another.

In the manga, it appears that Takita is beginning to wonder about just what kind of creatures the dragons are, but I may be reading too much into it: the anime concludes with Takita telling the baby dragon she's rescued to grow big and strong and she will come hunt it down. She's not ready to join Greenpeace just yet.
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Robert#894332



Joined: 25 Mar 2019
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 5:11 pm Reply with quote
dm wrote:
I was first drawn to this series by the manga, which seems to hold more than a whiff of Miyazaki (the blue uniforms and the cloud backgrounds are strong reminders of Nausicaä, the steam-punk aerobatics, the storm at the end, and Giraud's tale of his father are all reminiscent of Laputa
[...]


I see the homage to Miyazaki's Nausicaa with dragons a little like the insects from Nausicaa and the airships from both Nausicaa and Laputa. Also the pastel/watercolor covers remind me of Nausicaa art.


The uniforms though are historically based. They are patterned on French horizon blue uniforms from WW1. Early 1900s is when Dirigibles, Zeppelins, or airships are being used. Their helmets appear to be based on the adrian helmet which was worn all over Europe both by military and civilian organizations (police, firefighters, etc).
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Covnam



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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2020 5:50 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for the info all =)
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Scalfin



Joined: 18 May 2008
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2020 12:15 pm Reply with quote
Covnam wrote:
Out of curiousity, does this series take a stance on whaling (draking)? Like it's great, or it's awful and shouldn't be done? Or is it more of a 'this is just how things are' not really taking a stance kind of thing?


In Moby Dick, the main character spends a chapter explaining how the idea that the population can ever be depleted (I have no idea how much that's the author and how much the character). I believe that's kind of the tone here, with none of the characters being very aware that what they're doing is harmful, with a strong possibility that improving technology hiding population declines by keeping harvests up (in the codfish manner). Unlike Moby Dick, the drakes are treated as discrete beings rather than a somewhat blank avatar of wilderness and untamed nature.
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